I am become Death
by Shane Lutz
Summary: When Shane and Miranda, two powerful half-bloods, discover a strange girl in the Camp forest, they are thrown into a quest centered around the girl, Maria.But what happens when her god ancestory is the only thing that could save the world...or destroy it?
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Fifteen Years Ago

"_I'm sorry my darling." The goddess gently touched the face of the slumbering baby cradled gently in her arms. It didn't make a sound but almost seemed to radiate an unusual, unnatural serenity. The pale face looked like a heart-shaped moon, especially against the stark black cloth that the baby was wrapped in. Its eyes were the most crystal blue, a strange mix of the colors of cerulean waters and sapphire icebergs, just like its mother's._

"_I am sorry I have inflicted such a burden upon you, child," the mother continued. She looked young, a foggy radiance surrounding her. She was a goddess; the golden blood of the gods, ichor, ran through her veins. Yet she was cursed as was the child she had so recently birthed, and now would be forced to abandon._

"_I am sorry," she whispered again. And with that, the young women softly kissed the baby's forehead, giving it her mark. She laid the baby in the emerald grass in the center of the circle made of black marble standing stones, and, with that, the goddess descended through the abysmal cavern and into the Underworld, the cries of her abandoned child lost in impenetrable darkness._

* * *

"_I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds."_

-J. Robert Oppenheimer

**Chapter 1: Shane**

_Present Day_

"We'll never make it; it's too close of a call."

"What other choice do we have?"

I stared down into the shallow valley from Zeus's Fist, our current base. The crystal stream ran through the bottom of it, and the entire scene – ancient pine trees, shimmering air, cool breeze, sunshine peaking through leaves and needles above – was too serene for my liking. Mainly because it was too perfect to be real.

"Ok then," I said, biting my lip. There was a loud whooping sounding in the distance, but I ignored it, not even glancing toward it. "Plan Sigma?"

Miranda, my best ally and one of my closest friends, nodded, her face stern. "That sounds like the best option. I'll take five of my best archers and head off a little to the right. You take the rest of our troops and make a wide loop to the left where they'll be coming through. From there, it's just defend and slip through. Make sense?"

I titled my head to the side in fake annoyance, rubbing in her face – for the millionth time – my ancestry. "I'm a son of Athena, I always have a plan, remember? Speaking of which, _this_ is _my_ plan."

Miranda smiled, winking. "Yeah, Shane, but Apollo is still better." She waved behind her, and five of the Apollo demigods trotted up behind her. With a playful salute, they lithely descended into the valley without making a single sound. The Apollo kids, with their agility and grace, were the perfect stealth team.

I smiled to myself. Capture the flag was my ultimate favorite thing to do at Camp Half-Blood. I spend weeks – and sometimes months – preparing for a game that would, because of my careful preparation, last no more than a half-an-hour. My cabin, the Athena kids, had made an alliance with the Apollo, Aphrodite, Zeus, and, strangely, Poseidon cabins. Ares aligned themselves with the Hephaestus, Dionysius, Hermes, and Demeter cabins. The minor gods' children were divvied up between the two teams according to personal allegiance, and the few Hades kids simply supplied the monsters and obstacles for the players. The odds were stacked against the Ares team to begin with, trust me, but with my complex and intricate plans, they were doomed the moment Chiron blew the conch shell.

I took in a quick scan of the surrounding area, and I was reminded once again just how much Camp Half-Blood had changed since the war against the Titan Lord Kronus. The Big Three were allowed to have children again – although they did exhibit explicit self-control this time around – and there were a lot more minor god half-bloods. Camp attendance had doubled and so had the size of Camp itself. Of course, as the veteran demigods grew up and entered the real world, new cabin leaders were assigned as well. I took lead of the Athena cabin from Annabeth Chase, Miranda assumed leadership from Lee Fletcher of the Apollo cabin, etc. Things were good, but, like the forest, the calm could never last.

"They're coming," Madira, leader of the Aphrodite cabin, said, coming up behind me. I jumped a little, surprised, but quickly composed myself nodding.

"Then we'll meet them there. Leave our two best behind, and bring the others."

I could remember when I had just arrived at Camp at only seven years old and was so insecure, so terrified, so _innocent._ And now here I was, leading half of the entire Camp into a sporting battle. Along with Miranda, Madira had basically raised me and taught me almost everything they could. Unfortunately, all the major lessons I needed to learn I had to learn on my own…which, through far too many nightmares in reality, I had.

I pushed down my bronze helm, styled identical to those of ancient Athens, including the black plume. Many of my other cabin members had similar helms, and we all had matching armor. I raised my huge spear that's a collapsible that I carry around in a Mace canister in my pocket. I hit my watch, and it expanded into a shield that was modeled exactly after my mom's, the Aegis. It has the face of the gorgon Medusa molded into the gold, and while it doesn't have the same paralyzing effect (drat!) it is so horrible that most people turn and run at the sight of it. I love it.

"Let's go," I said, and my team followed quickly and silently behind me. I hadn't lost a single game of capture the flag for a reason. I was trained by the best: Annabeth Chase. But that's not to say that I've incorporated some of my own strategies. Hers were good, I'll admit, but they weren't without improvement. That's where I come in, if you hadn't guessed.

Suddenly, there was a rustling up in front of us, right across the stream. Now, like I said, I'm no newbie to this game. And usually when you hear rustling, it means one of two things: 1) The enemy is right there, or 2) A monster is waiting to pounce.

Luckily, I had planned for both.

I held up several signs with my fingers, signaling to my teammates. There was the soft clink of armor as they moved into position behind me. We had practiced this a million times before, and they know that I don't mess around with capture the flag. It's either win, or…there's no "or", let's just say that.

The enemy burst from all around us. Half-bloods with red plumes and determined expressions on their faces glowered at us, slowly closing in on us. We were surrounded, that was obvious, the question was, how do we fight back?

Adrienne, the leader of the Ares cabin stood right in front of me, a twisted expression on his face. He was totally reveling in the fact that we were captured, and I was caught between letting him bask in his false security or laugh maliciously and tell him that this was our plan the whole time.

Leave it to my ADHD to make the decision for me.

I lunged forward, my spear aimed directly at his head. He moved his celestial bronze sword – a quite big one at that – to parry, but I quickly moved the head of the spear to the left, bashing him on the side of the helmet with my lance. The rest of my troops erupted behind me, each attacking opponents at different angles.

"Bring it on, Shane Scott?" Adrienne snarled through gritted teeth.

I flashed him a wicked Cheshire smile. "Oh, we're just getting started."

We continued to fight – spear versus sword – neither of us getting closer to the other losing. I had to admit, he was a good fighter. But that was all he was. Mentally the dude was shallower than the Aphrodite demigods, and trust me, they are _pretty_ shallow…except for Madira, but that's a different story.

It didn't occur to me that the air had become colder. The birds and small woodland animals were no longer restless. They were silent. As a matter of fact, the entire forest was still…still as the dead.

The stream me and Adrienne were battling in rapidly froze over. It took us both a moment to realize what was happening, and even longer to dash out of the water. There weren't gods I knew besides the North Wind that were associated with ice, and the primal gale wouldn't be here; not in middle of summer.

The crystallized grass crunched beneath my feet and I almost slipped on icy stones bordering the stream. Brown and withered leaves fluttered from the canopy above, and storm clouds had blotted out the sun. If I concentrated really hard, I could even see snow flurries. What the Hades was going on?

The Ares team obviously noticed something was wrong as well. Both ours and their team had stopped fighting, and stood glancing around them in awe, mouths open. A few eyes were locked on me and Adrienne. What were they looking at us for? _I _for sure didn't do this, and there was no way in Tartarus that _he_ had the power to.

Miranda and the Apollo kids she had taken with her had now returned, halting their mission to find out what was wrong. She quickly approached me, putting a hand on my shoulder. She was warm, but I could still feel the biting cold that tore at every part of me. She glanced over my shoulder, staring at something.

I furrowed my brow, confused, before I slowly and cautiously looked down at what she gazing at, toward the icy river. There was only one part that wasn't completely solid ice, containing crystal blue water, and it was a jagged hole roughly large enough for a person to fit in.

And that's exactly what it held.

A pale face, dark-haired girl in blue jeans and a plain blue shirt lay in the stilled waters of her own personal little pond. Ice crystals had formed on her eyelashes and her hair, blue shivered across her lips and her cheeks were pink. A dark aura surrounded her, and I involuntarily took a step back, eyes transfixed on the girl.

"This never turns out good," Miranda muttered.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Accidental moments fracture our existence, and they break yesterday."_

-Libby Lavella

**Chapter 2: Miranda**

I'm just here to say that this never turns out good.

I swear, this little stream in the middle of the Camp forest has got to be cursed. Every time something happens here, it _always_ is bad. Percy Jackson, the child of the Great Prophecy, was claimed here; the Oracle of Delphi first left the Big House to walk along this stream and deliver a chilling prophecy; the Final Battle between the Titan Lord Kronus was started as the enemy's army crossed this very stream.

I vote we evaporate it ASAP.

But now we come back to the question that seemed to be rattling everyone's mind: What the Hades is going on? It's apparent that the quaint Ice Age that has suddenly and ferociously ravaged Camp is connected to this strange girl who decided to take a nap in a frozen river. Another question: How had she gotten here? Also, did anyone else get the feeling that something _very_ big and _very_ bad was about to happen? Yes? Ok, just checking.

Chiron came trotting up beside me and Shane, whose breath caught as the centaur approached the girl. His white stallion body seemed to become even whiter and his tanned skin paled and turned pink in certain spots from the cold. Who was the girl that she reserved such power to affect even such primal beings as Chiron himself?  
"Step back, step back," he commanded. He bent down on his horse legs and, suppressing an obvious chill, lifted the limp girl out of the small cove of water. Hushed whispers fluttered through the campers as the water, just as the girl left it, froze over.

Chiron nodded towards me and Shane, and we exchanged a perturbed glance before walking up beside him. The crowd of armored campers divided as if we were lepers as we walked through them. We were headed towards the Big House to care for the girl in the infirmary most likely.

"What's going on?" I asked sternly, once we were out of earshot. I heard yelling campers from our team of in the distance as they uncovered the enemy's flag. They apparently hadn't gotten the memo.

"Something bad; very bad," Chiron said grimly.

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Shane muttered.

I shot him a glare. He was almost three years younger than me. I was his tutor, his mentor, and I was like an older sister to him. And, even as his pseudo-older sister, I was still struggling to keep his impulsiveness under control.

"Who is she?" I asked. The girl's eyes fluttered briefly, and I saw beautiful cerulean eyes that made me catch my breath. The lightning-blue Zeus kids' or the sea-green Poseidon kids' eyes paled in comparison to these eyes. It was scary to imagine just how much archaic power this girl was a reservoir for.

"Not one of the Big Three demigods, I can tell you that," Chiron said flatly. I sensed a tremor in his voice. Was he – the ancient and powerful centaur – afraid?

"She doesn't look like one of the Olympians' kids at all," Shane said observantly. "It's impossible for her to be a Titan's child. A minor god, maybe?"

Chiron bit his lower lip, considering. I noticed it was red and chewed, which meant that he had been worrying for some time.

"Maybe…but it's unlikely. Some of the minor demigods are powerful – Eris, Nike, even Amphitrite – but not as powerful as what we just witnessed. But enough of this talk for now. We must attend to this girl. Miranda, will you assist in her healing?"

I nodded. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. "Of course."

"Good," Chiron said. Suddenly, a shadow crossed his face as we neared the Big House. "Let us be wary of who we tell this to. You must remember, the previous Great Prophecy has already come to pass and a new one has yet to be told. I would not dismiss the fact that this could very well be the start of something either really good, or…"

He left the sentence hanging. He didn't need to say the rest. I got it, Shane got it.

This was either really good or _really bad._

* * *

She had almost woken up several times, but not enough to really count for anything.

We sat alone in a room in the back of the Big House, away from…well, everything. Argus had taken a brief shift while I attended to personal needs: bathroom, food, drink, updates to Chiron, etc. The girl kept going through strange phases where she would get really hot and then really cold in a matter of minutes. It was really beginning to worry me. My father was the god of diseases, plagues, all that good stuff, and I didn't recognize what she was going through as anything natural _or_ supernatural. I had even visited the giant library on the second floor of the Big House multiple times (I fell asleep once while reading, but that's just between you and me) but I didn't find anything. It's like this girl didn't come from anywhere. She just _happened._.

I dabbed the warm cloth against her forehead, feeling her shudder from another wave of cold warping her body. I was thinking about gods that were associated with ice and cold when I noticed something. It wasn't there for long, just a brief, flesh-colored mark on her forehead. I didn't get to make out what it looked like exactly, but I immediately recognized it as the mark of a god. Someone had placed their sigil on this girl, protecting her, guiding her, and Zeus knows what else. She was, in fact, a demigod.

I jumped at a knock on the door. Shane smiled back at my pale face, gently closing the door behind him. There were lines underneath his eyes from lack of sleep, and I felt guilty for asking him to help me find any clues to the origin of this girl. I didn't think he'd stay up all night, it was just that he was a son of Athena, and with that he was wise and incredibly – _annoyingly_ – smart. I thought he'd think of something, anything.

"Nothing," he murmured, slumping down beside me. He looked out on the balcony through the open double-doors. I constantly was opening and closing them from this girl's temperature changes. I had been here for hours, and the sun had set a long time ago. The full moon glared at us mockingly through the window, and I involuntarily shuddered.

"I'm sorry, Miranda," he continued. "It's just, there's nothing to work with. Nothing like this has ever happened at camp – or anywhere else for that matter – ever before. If I just had a clue…something, anything…"

It seemed like a creepy coincidence that he would so suddenly ask for that just as I had noticed the mark on her forehead, but I decided to keep that a secret for now.

"What about the cold? The ice? What did you find on that?"

He shrugged halfheartedly. "There aren't many gods associated with ice. Boreas, the North Wind, is sometimes. Hades and Charon are, too, because of the dismal underworld, but not enough to be a dominant aspect. Something's not right here, Miranda, I just know it."

"Agreed." I thought about what Chiron said about the Great Prophecy. The one about Percy Jackson happened a while ago, and the one delivered after that also has come and gone. Usually, just after a Great Prophecy has been completed, the next one will be told, but so far, nothing. Zip. Nada. It was a chilling thought to consider. It was like we were all flying blind in a tornado right in front of our noses.

"So…" Shane said, turning his attention to the girl, clenching his jaw. I furrowed my brow at it as he continued. "How is she?"

"Fine, I guess. She's mumbled occasionally in her sleep."

"Anything you can understand?"

I shook my head. "Just when I think I can pinpoint the language – Ancient Greek, Norse, Egyptian, Celtic, Sumerian – it changes and then she just returns to a motionless rock. I don't know what to make of it."

"And she hasn't even shown any signs coming back to consciousness?" Shane asked, a worried expression on his face.

"Nope. It's like someone kidnapped her soul and locked it up in some dark and gloomy place."

And, in that instant, she woke up.

* * *

Me and Shane flew back, tumbling over our chairs. The girl was asleep one second, and the next she bolted up in the bed, eyes wide. Her head turned slowly towards us, a blank expression on her face.

A spark flickered behind her iceberg eyes. "Where am I?"

I waved back Shane. "Go get Chiron," I told him quietly. He hurried off, his expression pale. I turned back to the girl. "You need to lie back down. You're unstable and it's dangerous for…"  
She pushed me away from her. It might have just been my imagination, but I could've sworn that I saw sky blue, glowing tendrils briefly wind their way up her arms. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

I pursed my lips, trying to keep her calm. Who knew the extent of what she could do? "What's your name?" I asked, holding up my hands in surrender.

"I…" She paused, and there was a look of terror on her face, like she forgot her name, before her confused expression returned. "Maria. My name is Maria."

"Do you know how old you are?"

Her eyes snapped back up at me, flaring. "I'm not a kid!"

"I know that…"

"Then stop talking to me like I am! I'm almost sixteen, thank you very much." That meant she was fifteen. Shane just turned fifteen. Hmm…

"My name is Miranda," I told her, slowly taking a seat beside her again.

"Miranda," she said dreamily, "where am I?"

"Camp Half-Blood," I said, unsure if she completely understood.

"Why?" She asked, her voice quivering.

I bit my lip. "I was sort of hoping you could tell me that."

"Sorry, I don't know." She pushed the covers off of her and tried to stand up out of the bed. I was immediately by her side to catch her. She stumbled a little, but she seemed stable enough, so I gradually let her go.

Shane and Chiron came running into the small room, Chiron ducking to fit in the door. They had matching nervous expressions and they halted abruptly as they saw her standing by my side.

"Guys, this is Maria," I told them, and then, turning to her, "Maria, this is Shane and Chiron."

"Come, my child, there is much we must talk about," the centaur said, placing a hand on the small of her back and leading her out of the room, motioning for us to follow. I had a feeling when he said "we" he meant me and Shane. Oh, good ole' Chiron, giving the unwanted jobs to other people. Gotta' love em'.

"What do we have to talk about?" Maria said panicky. "What's going on here?"

"Let me ask you this, Maria," Shane said, grinning as he put an arm around her. "What do you know about Greek Mythology?"


End file.
